Different countries and cultures have different norms for dress. In the United States, for example, some restaurants require men to wear jackets and state law generally prohibits even partial public nudity. Public schools often have enforceable dress codes. In the 1960s, those codes often prohibited female students from wearing pants. Consider the following:
• In 2010, the French Parliament passed a law forbidding people from concealing their faces in public, punishable by fines. Higher fines and prison sentences up to one year could be imposed on individuals who encouraged others to ignore the ban. Although freedom of religion is constitutionally protected in France, it is generally acknowledged that the purpose of the law was to prohibit Muslim women from wearing traditional head coverings and full- body robes. It has been estimated that fewer than 2,000 women in France, most of whom are French nationals, wear them. Some supporters of the ban have said that such robes are a means of forcing women to be submissive and are a sign of enslavement or debasement. Some of the wearers say that the dress is a method to concentrate on their religious faith.89
• Also in 2010, one province in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, banned Muslim women from wearing revealing clothes such as tight skirts and pants. After their third violation, women could be subject to two weeks’ detention. Shopkeepers violating restrictions on selling inappropriate clothing could lose their business licenses.90
a. Do the laws discussed in the sections above seem logical to you? On what basis should you judge them?
b. Would conflicts with cultural issues, such as those addressed by the local laws above, impact your decision as a manager about where to conduct your business? Should they impact your decisions? Explain.
c. If your job required you to live in a country that had laws with which you disagreed on moral grounds, would you follow those laws? Explain.